The mystery of Captain Thomas Bowrey, his life and this times – seventeenth century East Indies mariner and eighteenth century Wapping merchant.

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On This Day: 16 November 1705

On this day in 1705, Thomas Bowrey attended Queen Anne at St James’ Palace to hand her a petition in respect of the case of the Worcester. Unfortunately, the event was not important enough to be reported in the London Gazette. Bowrey, however, did record it, annotating the reverse of his copy of the petition: Petition to the Queen Delivered to her own hand November 16th 1705 at St James’.

Over the years, Bowrey (on behalf of all the owners of the Worcester) sent a number of petitions to Queen Anne but this appears to be the only one he delivered personally. I imagine that he wore his best suit and remembered the occasion as something special.

This particular petition requested the queen to grant the owners Letters of Reprisals for £35,006/1/3 (the equivalent of £5.335m today) against the Scots Nation. There is no record of how the petition was received by the queen but the owners of the Worcester never received the compensation to which Bowrey believed they were entitled.